Statement Prepared for Energy Secretary Abraham
April 28, 2004
Good afternoon. It’s a pleasure to be here.
I also want to congratulate Ambassador Robinson, and all the fine people who work here, on Sandia National Laboratories being named a “Center of Excellence.” I had the pleasure just yesterday of announcing these Centers … which will work will with select university and industry partners to advance the President’s Hydrogen Fuel Initiative.
Again, congratulations.
I am also very pleased to dedicate the completion of this new building, the Sandia National Laboratories’ Joint Computational Engineering Laboratory (JCEL).
The JCEL will upgrade, consolidate, and enlarge the already impressive computational work done here at Sandia into one, new, state-of-the art building. And it will keep our national laboratories on the cutting-edge of national security technology.
Restoring the integrity of our weapons complex, and modernizing the capabilities of the National Nuclear Security Administration, has been a top priority for President Bush, as outlined in the Administration’s Nuclear Posture Review, the blue print for our security posture into the 21st Century.
Three years ago, Ambassador Robinson and the other lab directors brought to our attention the need for the Department of Energy to step up its investment in modernizing the lab’s capabilities.
The President and I agreed that modernizing our defense complex was urgent. And so the Energy Department committed to making the necessary upgrades… here, and at other important sites.
The work done by the many dedicated, hard-working people at our weapons complex… the vital job of helping to ensure the safety, security, and reliability of our nuclear stockpile… is too important to be relegated to the back burner.
So we are committed to giving our scientists and engineers the up-to-date, technologically advanced facilities that they deserve, and that the national security of this nation demands.
Three years later, and $1.8 billion of new investment later, we are rapidly rebuilding our infrastructure and enhancing our capabilities again.
Overall, the budget for the NNSA has risen from $6.8 billion in 2001, to $8.6 billion in 2004, an increase of 26 percent.
And more than thirty percent of this increase has gone to facilities and programs in New Mexico. With its labs here and in Los Alamos, New Mexico, of course, is a key part of our weapons complex.
In fact, although the state of New Mexico was 47th to enter the Union, it is in many ways first in helping to safeguard the nation’s national security. And our budget increases have reflected that.
Let me mention just a few of the things the DOE and NNSA have accomplished with this renewed effort to rebuild and modernize our facilities nation-wide:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory has manufactured the first certifiable W-88 pit for the Nation’s nuclear deterrent, a critical step in restoring the ability of the weapons complex to support the nuclear deterrent.
- We began the irradiation of Tritium Producing Burnable Absorber Rods in a TVA reactor in September 2003, restoring a key nuclear manufacturing technology.
- Since 2001, Sandia Lab has conducted a total of 635 “shots” on the Z machine—a powerful X-Ray generator. These shots have provided important data in support of the Stockpile Stewardship Program which is helping to keep America's nuclear deterrent safe, secure and reliable.
- And under the Advanced Simulation and Computing program, 2 new super-computing machines, Red Storm and Purple, are slated for delivery from Cray and IBM in 2005. These machines will be the world’s fastest computers operating at 40 and 100 Teraflops respectively.
I am proud of these accomplishments. And I am proud that this new lab, the latest step in these ongoing efforts, and will enhance Sandia’s awesome responsibilities for nuclear stockpile stewardship.
At three stories high, and containing 61,000 square feet of working space, the JCEL provides work and office space for approximately 175 people. It will bring together Sandia’s high-performance computing and communications, modeling, simulation, analysis, and design communities to promote rapid development of computer-based modeling and simulations.
The JCEL is designed to revolutionize in the way information and computation is available at the desktops of engineers, and to do so with unprecedented methods of assuring that the information is protected and available only to those intended.
I wish all who will work here thanks and good luck.
Before closing, on behalf of President Bush, I also want to thank the thousands of hard-working men and women who have made Sandia Laboratories such a success.
Since 1949, this lab has been a pioneer in helping ensure the safety and security of the American people … and the world. Day-in and day-out, year after year, the research and engineering breakthroughs achieved here have had direct, measurable impacts.
Whether it be developing ultra-small radar for unmanned, aerial reconnaissance vehicles… tracking and controlling potential “dirty bomb” sources… or helping to rebuild the Iraqi scientific community... Sandia’s research has hands-on benefits in the real world.
This new computational engineering laboratory will provide the latest cutting-edge resources to help you carry out your most vital work, and I am very pleased to be here to dedicate its opening.
Thank you.
